The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) has uncovered a fraudulent scheme involving a foreigner who opened a Nigerian bank account to collect payments from Nigerians seeking fake six-week bachelor’s degrees from abroad.
The Chairman of ICPC, Dr. Musa Adamu Aliyu, revealed this during a stakeholders’ advocacy event on asset tracing, recovery, and management, held in Abuja. The event was organised by the Centre for Fiscal Transparency and Public Integrity (CeFTPI) and supported by GIABA, the West African body against money laundering.
According to Dr. Aliyu, the account was traced and frozen within a few weeks of investigation, and a civil forfeiture order has already been secured.
“Within some weeks, we discovered that a foreigner opened an account in Nigeria and Nigerian students were paying into it to get six-week degrees. We tracked and obtained a civil forfeiture order on the account,” he said.
He warned that this type of cross-border fraud is a growing threat and called for stronger cooperation among anti-corruption agencies both locally and internationally.
Dr. Aliyu also emphasized Africa’s long history of being exploited through illicit financial flows—from the slave trade era to modern corruption—and criticized the global tendency to blame African countries for corruption while ignoring the external players involved.
“We know where these stolen assets go, but they keep blaming the victims. Africa continues to suffer losses while being accused of corruption,” he said.
CeFTPI Executive Director Umar Yakubu, in his opening remarks, stressed the need for collaborative strategies to improve transparency, asset recovery, and citizen engagement in governance.
The ICPC says it is continuing efforts to identify and prosecute those involved in the fake degree racket, including suspects operating outside Nigeria.
